On December 11, 2016, His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria presided over the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal and Cathedral Church of Saint Sabbas the Consecrated of Alexandria and during this Mass he celebrated the consecration of the new Bishop of Arusha and Central Tanzania, Mr.Agathonikos. His Grace Bishop Agathonikos (Nicolaides) of Arusha and Central Tanzania was born in 1964 in Giannitsa. He graduated from the Pedagogical Academy of Florina and the Faculty of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Since 1986 he has been a monk of the Holy Monastery of St. Dionysius of Olympus. He served as Preacher of the Metropolises of Florina and Citrus, while from 2004 to 2011 he served in various missionary teams in Africa, serving as First Bishop of the Metropolis of Irinupolis in Tanzania. In December 2013, he moved to Alexandria, where he served as Scholarch of the Patriarchal School of St. Athanasius, as Codicographer and Director of the Patriarch’s Private Office. On November 17, 2016, he was unanimously elected Bishop of the newly created Diocese of Arusha and Central Tanzania. The Orthodox Foreign Missionary Fraternity greets with emotion the assumption of the new missionary struggles by His Eminence and wishes him to continue the rich fruitfulness of his predecessor. Worthy!
